Ganymede, the Trojan youth who was abducted and conveyed by an eagle to Olympus to become cupbearer to the gods, was made immortal by a drink containing tansy. Indeed, the word “tansy” has its root in the Greek word anthanasia, meaning immortality. From this legend came the tradition of carrying the herb to lengthen one’s lifespan. Carrying the herb may lengthen one’s life, but consuming tansy could shorten it as the essential oil contains thujone, a convulsant narcotic that is toxic and potentially fatal. However, an old legend maintains that a small piece of tansy placed in your shoe will cure a persistent fever.
In the garden tansy will flourish in almost any soil. A hardy perennial, growing to four feet, with clusters of attractive yellow flowers and fernlike, strongly aromatic green leaves, it makes an engaging backdrop to blue and grey herbs such as sage. The herb’s resinous scent blends pleasantly with floral and spicy fragrances in your flower garden. It is advisable to keep tansy away from your vegetable garden however because it can be invasive with its creeping rhizomes and it appears to attract both cabbageworms and aphids. Conversely, the herb is an effective repellant to moths, ants and cockroaches and is used as a strewing herb in areas where these insects are a pest. Another common name for tansy is “ant fern”.
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